Local housing industry hit hard in 1979

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, January 8, 2005

A souring national economy and decreased availability of mortgage loans here brought a sharp downturn in the local housing industry in 1979.

Residential construction emphasis in 1979 was shifted to multiple-family projects.

Three developments - a 54-unit condominium project on Park Avenue, 43 condo units on Padanaram Road and 35 apartment units on Coalpit Hill Road - accounted for just over 45 percent of all new dwelling units.

Mariano Scalisi
, the only male member of the Danbury chapter of the
National Organization of Women
(NOW) and a state delegate to last year's national convention in Los Angeles, wants to form a parade band to march for the cause.

He plans to march in a demonstration for the Equal Rights Amendment in January (1980) in Richmond, Va.

On a long list of malcontent customers of the state
Department of Transportation
, the town of Bethel has given up waiting for much-needed repairs of its railroad station and has made the repairs itself, including a new roof, a heating system and an inside paint job.

The
Danbury Chamber of Commerce
has completed its judging of Christmas decorations, with awards made in the unlighted displays division. Lighted decorations were judged earlier this week.

First prize went to Mrs.
Warren T. Bulkley
of 35 Wooster Heights, for an unlighted doorway, and to Mrs.
C. Leo Delohery
, Clapboard Ridge Road, for an unlighted exterior.

A small group of worshippers, mostly younger members of the congregation, gathered at the
Second Baptist Church
on West Street, Danbury, Friday night (Dec. 31, 1954) for a Watch Night service, at the close of which the keys were turned in the doors for the last time.

The property has been sold and will become a gasoline service station.

The congregation is building a new edifice on Granville Avenue.

For older parishioners, the occasion was a sad one fraught with precious memories and sentiment, and many of them stayed away.

75 years ago

With showers of sparks from a mammoth bonfire being borne upward through the cold night air, and with auto lights added to the brightness of the scene, hundreds of men, women and children joined last evening in community singing connected with the first formal celebration of Twelfth Night in Danbury.

The fire was lighted on the baseball grounds at the high school, with discarded Christmas trees in the pyre.

Camp Fire Girls and Boy Scouts lit the fires under the supervision of Patrolman
Bernie Bradley
of the police department and two firemen.

Charles E. Ives
of New York City, a Danbury boy who has won notable success in the life insurance business in that metropolis, has retired from the firm of Ives Myrick because of ill health. Ives is a son of Mr. and Mrs. George E. Ives of Danbury, and a brother of Judge J. Moss Ives, also of this city.